Zelink Week - Day 3 - Scars
by WildlingKnight
Summary: Zelink Week 2016 - They had sat and compared their scars from their respective journeys before and it never ceased to amaze them how they could have been so close to each other, and yet so far.


This was written for Zelink Week 2016 over on tumblr. I didn't finish the week, but I'm putting up everything I did finish here.

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They had sat and compared their scars from their respective journeys before and it never ceased to amaze them how they could have been so close to each other, and yet so far.

Sitting on the edge of one of the floating islands far out from Skyloft one afternoon during a visit, legs dangling over the side and their Loftwings soaring around them, the conversation turned to the events a year previously.

"The amount of burns I got from that volcano is insane." Link was saying, lifting his sleeve and running his fingers over a particularly nasty burn on his shoulder. "Bloody Fire Keese." He muttered dropping his sleeve back down. Zelda smiled, but there was a sad edge to it.

"You went through so much to get to me."

"Don't get sad Zelda. We both know I had to go through all that. I needed to become stronger, and I did. It was all worth it." He put his hands out behind him and leant back on them. He talked about it so casually now, but Zelda knew the memories still hurt him sometimes. They hurt her too.

"I know." They sat quietly together for a moment, basking in the sunlight and watching the Loftwings fly. "Do you remember the burn on my ankle, from when those Bokoblins chained me up? That hurt so much afterward, and I had to walk through the desert on it."

"Oh Goddess, don't get me started on that desert." Link groaned. Zelda laughed. Lanayru Desert was the place Link complained about most. He complained about the sand, how it got just everywhere and that he was still finding it in his boots even now. He complained about the sun, how raw his skin had been with sunburn and how many new freckles had appeared across the bridge of his nose after it had faded. But most of all, he complained about the mining facility.

The timeshift stones had been a challenge, but he'd learned how to use them to his advantage quickly enough. It was the unexpected appearance of crackling yellow Chus and the power behind the previously long dead Beamos lasers that had tripped him up.

"...out of patience and just swing and let me tell you, electrocution isn't fun." Zelda immediately stopped zoning out.

"You never told me you were electrocuted."

"Oh." Link faltered. " Well it doesn't matter. It was only a small zap, and I'm obviously fine now." Link grinned at her, trying to play it down. She didn't grin back. He'd kept things from her about his journey before, and she'd always found out. Whether from other people when they told her about the times he'd flown back to Skyloft in a state, or from Link himself when he slipped up. "C'mon Zel. Hey, what about when you landed after the tornado? Bet you got some nasty bruising from that." Link leant forward, searching out her eyes but she kept them downcast towards the cloud line.

"Hmm, some." She played with a bit of her hair. If Link didn't tell her about being electrocuted, she had to wonder if there were still more things he hadn't told her. In fact, she knew there was. He'd never told her how he'd gotten the large scar down his wrist and across his left palm. She always felt it when they held hands, but neither of them had ever mentioned it.

She reached out now and took his left hand in hers, turning it palm upwards and laying it on her thigh while she ran the fingers of her right hand over the long line of damaged skin. Link stayed silent at first, just letting her do it. She'd almost lost the courage to ask what had happened when he spoke.

"It was a Moblin." His voice was low and quiet and his face was drawn. "I'd never had to fight one before, but I had to get around it. It was hard. We were on a sort of bridge and there wasn't a lot of room to move." Zelda was staring at his face, still gently running her fingers along his scar. "He had a spear and I kept dodging it, but I moved too close to the edge and almost lost my balance. I wasn't- I didn't have my shield up and it swung its spear at me and caught my arm. I fell then." Zelda gasped despite herself and it seemed to startle him out of his seriousness, he returned to his usual unperturbed attitude toward situations that had threatened his life. "It was fine though, we were above a pool and the water broke my fall."

Zelda sighed.

"I'm not afraid of falling Zelda. We do it all the time."

"I know we do." Link's smile faltered slightly at her sad tone, but he brightened the next instant.

"Race you to the plaza." She didn't get chance to grab his hand to stop him from launching himself from the island, instead she gasped over the sound of his whistle and leant over the edge in time to see his Loftwing scoop him up. Rather than following him straight away she sat watching him rapidly shrinking as he flew toward Skyloft.

He always acted so unaffected. But he wasn't. She knew that. She knew it in the way that most days now, he'd be awake before her. She knew it in the way he would seem too pleased to see her if they'd been apart for longer than a few minutes. And he was constantly worried about being late, whereas that had never bothered him before.

Coming back to herself, she shielded her eyes against the sun to see the faint red spec that was Link's Loftwing almost at Skyloft. Pushing to her feet, she leaped from the island, calling for her Loftwing.

No, he wasn't unaffected, she thought as she urged her Loftwing toward the wind tunnel. But some scars ran deep.

Especially the ones others couldn't see.

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Let me know what you think please :)


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